Comedy country artist Wheeler Walker Jr. has deleted both his Twitter and Instagram accounts after facing backlash for encouraging violence against a Kentucky teen seen in a recent viral video smirking in the face of a Native American elder.

On Saturday (1-19), a video went viral of students from the Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky appearing to taunt Native American elder and military veteran Nathan Phillips who was playing a native drum at the Lincoln Memorial. Some of the students had “Make America Great Again” hats on, including 16-year-old Nick Sandmann, who was the individual closest to Nathan Phillips in the viral video, appearing to smirk. Subsequently, Nick Sandmann became the subject of public ire, including from Wheeler Walker Jr.

“I know I have fans in Paris Hills, Ky.” Wheeler Walker Jr. said. “If you know this little shit, punch him in the nuts and send me the video of it and I’ll send you all my albums on vinyl, autographed.”

The tweet from Wheeler Walker Jr. and a repost on Instagram immediately went viral themselves, but also stimulated a strong backlash from people concerned that Wheeler Walker Jr. was encouraging violence against a minor. The post on Instagram was removed by the social media company after complaints, Walker Jr. claimed in a subsequent post later on Saturday, asserting that he was not backing down. However later the second Instagram post was removed, as was the original tweet. Then on Tuesday (1-22), both Wheeler Walker Jr.’s Twitter and Instagram accounts appeared to be deleted.

The viral video first incited outrage for appearing to portray the students from the Covington Catholic High School taunting the tribal elder. However more lengthy and detailed footage surfaced later that offered context to the incident, including that members of the Black Hebrew Israelites were taunting the students by calling them “white crackers,” “incest kids,” “future school shooters,” and other remarks. Though reports initially stated that members of the Covington school group also yelled racist statements and chanted “Build the wall,” there is no evidence this occurred. Instead the kids were chanting school spirit songs after they received permission from a teacher to do so.

The Covington High School students were in Washington D.C. attending a pro-life rally, and were waiting for buses to take them back to Kentucky when the incident occurred. Native American elder Nathan Phillips was part of an Indigenous People’s March happening at the Lincoln Memorial independently, and the members of the Black Hebrew Israelites were holding a separate rally at the memorial at the same time.

Since the incident, Twitter has suspended the original Twitter account that posted the edited clip from the nearly 2-hour long original video that caused the uproar. The account appeared to be part of a larger network of suspicious accounts used to stir political vitriol on both sides of the political divide. However Wheeler Walker Jr.’s accounts remained active, causing many conservative and free speech advocates to complain of a double standard. Soliciting violence against individuals is strictly against Twitter’s user policies, and other accounts have been suspended recently for similar activity.

Wheeler Walker Jr. is the alter ego of comedian Ben Hoffman, who is originally from Lexington, Kentucky. He’s regularly stirred controversy not just for his sexually explicit songs, but for lashing out at other celebrities in Twitter spats. His especially severe criticism and trolling of the Wal-Mart Yodeling Boy Mason Ramsey drew significant ire in 2018.

Right before the incident, on January 18th, Wheeler Walker posted a string of tweets saying “Fuck ____” with the Twitter handles of major country music stars following, including Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, and others. Then Walker Jr. appeared to quit country music, saying, “Country music is dead and fucking gone. Anyone who tries to make real country music in 2019 needs to have their head examined … Putin, please drop a bomb on the CMA’s and get it fucking over with already. I will not be making another country record. Waste of fucking time.”

However when country blog Whiskey Riff posted a story about Wheeler Walker Jr. quitting country music, he tweeted, “Fake news.” Since Wheeler Walker Jr. is a fictitious character, it’s hard to know where the performance art ends, and the reality begins. Fictional character or not, as a verified Twitter account, inciting violence against individuals would be against Twitter’s policies.

Saving Country Music reached out to the publicist of Wheeler Walker Jr. for a statement or clarification on the matter, but the requests were not returned.

The first paragraph of this article sets the stage for a biased piece. You state unequivocally the Sandmann was smirking. Where in the article do you report on the “Native Amerixan Elder” has stolen the valor of true Vietman combat vets. Look at the man’s DD214.

Regarding Wheeler – had never heard of him. He has his right to his opinion, but inciting violence against a minor is cause for prosecution. But like with all leftist America has lost her valls to nbn stand up for what is right.

I liked Wheeler but I saw his tweet and it really hacked me off. What happened to these kids was wrong and the fact that he was one of the first people going after them is not cool. I no longer find him amusing. FWIW, I probably don’t share the kids’ politics but I will defend them to the end over this.

This is from someone who believes these kids haven’t been absolved from their actions (which included tomahawk chops). They were still overly aggressive and disrespectful towards a former Vietnam Vet (even if provoked by another group). It’s a teaching moment, not punch in the nuts moment.

I did watch all the footage. If all the black Israelites jump off a bridge, would you? Everyone so badly want to be right on this one, they are failing to see things rationally. And sometimes perception is reality.

Nathan Phillips is a professional agitator he has a history of doing shit like this and then crying racism. WAPO has issued a retraction on claiming he was a vet also, funny he never saw fit to correct them when they asserted he was

He was disrespectful for invading the kids personal space. The students were not doing anything that was wrong, they thought the old man was having fun with them, and they bounced to his beat until it became obvious that the old man was up to something.
The only mature people in this were the kids.

You’re grasping at straws, because you wish like hell that the media’s original portrayal of the incident was correct. In fact, the vast majority of similar “incidents” that the media cooks up turn out to be completely false. You need to re-assess your core beliefs and try to understand why you are so wrong about nearly everything. I feel very sorry for victims of public schools.

*Straying off topic but I have to respond* You obviously haven’t seen the entire video which clearly indicates these kids were in no way aggressive or intimidating. That has been PROVEN. The native American & Black Israelites linstigated this 100%. The kids acted admirably considering their age. Furthermore, it turns out the elder may NOT be a veteran afterall. The story is developing.

You say they took the bait. But what did they do? You haven’t articulated WHAT exactly they did that is so offensive to you but not others. In fact, nearly every media outlet that reported the incident have either apologized for jumping to conclusions or retracted atroies altogether. But you are still hellbent on seeing what you want to believe. Good Lord…

He doesn’t have an answer. He just wishes the original narrative was true and he’s too committed to his dogma that he won’t walk it back and admit that the high school kids were the only ones acting decently.

Right before the incident was filmed the fake veteran agitator tried to disrupt a Catholic mass attended by hundreds of people – but was stopped by a security guard. This was also caught on tape. “Respect your elders”? WTF?
He deserves no respect. is there any length to which you will go before you finally say, “well, I was wrong.”

“Overly aggressive”?
The main kid in the controversy and at the center of the video literally just stood there silently while the Indian “elder” walked right up to him and banged a drum and chanted in his face. Yeah, he could have turned and walked away. Then the posted video probably would have said “MAGA hat-wearing teen p u s s y turns tail and runs away in fear when challenged by old Native American.”

Anything less than an outright apology from Wheeler will suffice. The media distorted the scenario. These kids were, in fact, the most mature during the whole scenario. As we now know, the “Black Israelites” started the whole thing, and they are notoriously racist. Wheeler followed the leftist reactionary script, prompted by the mainstream media, and he should have known better.

It didn’t take a genius to see that something wasn’t quite right with that short take on a long story of a video. Looked to me like one group was playing to the camera and the other wasn’t backing down to their intimidations. If a young woman isn’t suppose to be judged by her attire in a case of rape. Why should a young man be automatically judged by his attire? The Native American willingly or unwillingly became a pawn in the intimidators game. And why should we have to play this out to the media for them to realize they should have gotten their ducks in a row before publicizing it in the first place? Walker, you live by the sword, your career dies by the sword.

He’s a dick. I stopped following him on social media about a year ago. His view on pop country is spot on, but that’s where it stops. Beyond that, he’s just another loudmouth with a blue check mark by his name. Like so many people on his side of the political spectrum, he saw what he wanted to see.

He has made anti-right statements in the past and flat out stated if you like Trump to unfollow him and not support him. I complied simply on the narrow mindedness of his statement. I will be voting for Trump next go round, for sure cause of the corrupt nature of these mobs and fake news.

And regardless of politics, why did that one kid rip his shirt off and do some Truffle Shuffle looking move right in the middle of it all? Not sure I’m going with this “they handled themselves maturely” apology some are using.

I’ve said this before … we’d be shocked about many (especially mainstream) country artists’ political beliefs. The majority of them I believe lean left, but put on a front. At least this turd was up front about it.

It was a highschool football chat from their school. Remember, these are CHILDREN being called crackers, incest spawn etc. It’s surprising they didn’t go off on these jackasses. And no, that elder is not innocent. He forced his way into the group of kids. He has a long history of being a leftist activist. Simply search online. Back off the kids. It’s shocking y’all are STILL judging these kids after even the far left media has retracted their coverage!

The shirt off thing is some cheer that they do at school games. There is a video floating around of them doing it at school. Not unlike what you see at every other high school in the country that isn’t under a microscope.

What he did was wrong. He pushes the envelope and I am cool with that, usually. However, this was so wrong Honestly, I’m done with this dude. I don’t know if he attempts to overcompensate, due to the fact that white, southern, probably conservative males like him, therefore he has to let people know he is with the “liberals’” so his artsy Nashville friends will still support. Either way, it’s contrived and lame and takes away from his decently funny music.

This world has gone crazy in so many ways. People no longer use their head and logic…the act on emotion and that is a very scary world

Saucy how? I was drawing a distinction between a mistake, incompetence, or laziness, and outright fraud, deception, and libel, etc. Its the difference between running your car into a crowd of kids because you were distractedly staring at your iPhone and running into a crowd of kids because you are committing jihad and want them dead.

Good riddance. Wheeler has and always be annoyingly overrated. Bad at comedy and about as musically talented as the bro pop losers he somehow thinks he has the cred to rag on. Hopefully Sturgill and Childers will cease having anything to do with this buffoon as well.

Suggesting, condoning, rewarding, or inciting violence in any form or fashion should be universally condemned by all sides of the political spectrum, and seen as a red line in the increasingly vitriolic environment of today’s politics, especially in a moment in media when you can’t trust the source of information. If those kids were garbage, then they needed to be taught. They are kids.

I know I shouldn’t, I should just let you troll away. I know you are just trying to get a reaction. And I hate that I am caving in to you. That is what is different about the high school students, they didn’t take the bait like I am doing.
You are wrong, and you are part of the problem.

Ben’s guilty of a cardinal sin in theater, which is breaking character. When he shares his personal views while in his Wheeler role, the illusion is broken because you see the actor, not the character.

Reminds me of when Steve Colbert ditched his Daily Show persona and went full bore lefty “resistance” on his own network show. Took the fun out of it. Haven’t watched him since. Political comedy is best (and funnier) when it’s subtle. Jabs to the ribs, not haymakers to the face.

It pains me when my political views (& my utter disdain for hypocrisy and double standards) collides with my musical tastes. I try and completely ignore it, but when the artist becomes more of a partisan mouthpiece than a musician, I have to tap out, sadly (ie Jason Isbell).

It’s not just as simple as having a different ideological viewpoint as someone anymore that can be overlooked. The vitriol of today’s radical left has gone so far off the rails that I can no longer overlook when a musician aligns themselves with those beliefs & narrative. It’s unfortunate, but it has come to this.

The same can be said of the radical right, the Richard Spencer types, though fortunately I don’t know of any artists who are shitty enough to support that. The radicals on both sides are completely nuts and, frankly, dangerous.

I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time understanding the correlation of your response to my comment. I’m not familiar with this Spencer fella. Is he a musician who I’ve never heard of who has attempted to incentivise physical harm of children because they were guilty of standing, smiling, and wearing a rainbow hat?

Ulysses you’re a dumbass. Wtf did I say about how many lefty douches there are versus right douches? Nothing. The commenter above asked who Robert Spencer is, and I told him. What other weak shit you got for me bitch?

No, he’s something equally as bad, probably worse. A white supremacist or separatist who happens to be a big fan of Trump, along with many of his buddies. I live in Wisconsin and we had a douchebag by the name of Paul Nehlen run for the House of Representatives. He happens to be terribly anti-Semitic and an unabashed racist but still managed 10 percent of the vote while running as a Republican. That means at least 10 percent of those who voted Republican in that district are radical douchebags.

So, this has to do with my original comment how exactly? Are there musicians who you do, or you previously followed on social media who choose to espouse & regurgitate upon their followers this person’s beliefs that you don’t agree with at a 3:1 margin, instead of concentrating on their craft? If the answer is yes, then I would recommend you move along from that artist. Which is what I did. Which was the sole premise of my original comment. Your far reach of “whataboutism” is just that, a pretty far reach.

I don’t pay attention to the politics of musicians. I just don’t care. Steve Earle’s a Communist but I don’t care because I love his music.

I was just making a point about both fringes being just as dangerous. I said I fortunately didn’t know of any musicians aligned with the radical right. There are just so many people nowadays who seem to insinuate all the crazies are on the left.

Completely ignoring the political element, Wheeler was nothing but a troll using the recent rise in popularity of people seeking out “true” country music, especially in his case usually trying to attract the hip hop fan base and people who generally don’t listen to country music. His music grew tired first album and he has worn out his welcome

Those are not the same things….the singers he makes fun of are public figures, adults (except for yodel kid, which I didn’t support), millionaires, and there is no political aspect to his criticism . He incited violence on a private citizen, who is a minor. Please don’t go into law, you would get shredded in court

The law has nothing to do with people attacking Ben for being a liberal or a Jew or posting his address asking for vigilante justice and telling him they’re going to show up at his next gig to punch him in the nuts. Other than Cernovich and a few of his followers who want him charged, the outrage is tribalism based. If the kid was wearing a Clinton hat the same people wanting to beat up Wheeler would be trying to find excuses to justify his comment just like you did the bullying of people because they’re famous.

Sure you did. Your anecdote goes against everything we’ve seen these last two years where the truth only matters If it goes along with what people want to believe. If the truth contradicts their beliefs, then they are quick to call it fake news. Look how well that’s worked for Trump.

You are, without question, completely wrong and attempting to shift the goal posts on your original point. You stated that the people after him now were cheering him when he went after the pop country “stars.” That is factually incorrect. People agreed with his opinions on modern country music, most of this forum included. But no one, not even Walker/Hoffman was looking to inflict violence upon those he was mocking. It’s been well known for years that Hoffman is a Jew and a liberal. If people were anti-semitic then they would have attacked him before now. You can’t say that someone is being a racist when it is convenient for you. Please take the pilpul and doublespeak elsewhere.

Also, what Walker/Hoffman has demonstrated is a fine example of an Internet Tough Guy. This has been a great weekend for the Internet Tough Guys being shown as complete cowards.

I think a big part of his problem is somewhere along the line he started taking his music seriously. If you listed to his Walking the Floor podcast he actually talks about his writing method and how hard he worked on the lyrical content for his albums. The backing music for his songs is top notch but that’s got nothing to do with him.

I’d be more forgiving if he had just insulted the kid. A grown man threatening a kid is bad enough, but “Walker” didn’t even have the stones to do it on his own but rather tried to get others to do the violence. That’s just plain cowardice.

Yeah, I know. He’s a “comedian”. That’s a popular dodge these days. I’m not buying it.

Unfortunately I can’t get a refund on the CD I bought but I won’t be buying more.

Hey yall- contemporary country deserves some shade- you wouldn’t be at this site if you disagreed- but Walker’s music has real life consequences beyond getting some douchey white kid punched in the nuts. The shit he writes and sings about women in most of his songs is fuckin disgusting and infinitely reductive and not worth repeating – anyone have a problem with that? You should- that’s far more dangerous than this little tweet- our fuckin ‘maga’ president threatens violence on his American political oppenents and talks about how wonderful foreign dictators are – it is a funny time to care about a shitty tweet from a comedian, but it’s telling that posting a joke about kicking a dumb white kid in the nuts somehow warrants this reaction.

I don’t understand how he’s supposed to be a cliche country guy, and that’s the schtick, but at the same time he uses his platform to espouse all these liberal-minded views. It’s puzzling. Even if it’s just a character, i feel like he should be doing the opposite. Break those conventions, mannnn.

He did a good enough job where a big part of his fandom bought into the act and are now shocked that he’s not really the foul mouthed pussy king but a part time LA based comedy writer who hates everything about them.

Why is anyone surprised? Ben Hoffman has always been a progressive, transgressive douche bag. He is mocking and making fun of country music and people who listen to country music. He is the Blazing Saddles of country music. Do you understand that he hates you? Especially if you’re a Christian. He hates you.

Progressive? Sure. Transgressive? I guess. A douche? Quite possibly. But I really don’t think that Hoffman is mocking country music. I think he just uses what is seen as a traditionally conservative genre, to poke fun at certain conservative values, because that’s what he finds funny. I don’t think that someone who has no appreciation for country music would hang out with guys like Sturgill and Tyler Childers or gather up great Nashville session musicians and make three albums worth of great (excluding lyrics/vox) traditional country music.

Not sure about the “hates Christians” part, buddy (where you even getting that from, because he’s Jewish? Is it a given that he “hates” Christians because he’s not one?), but his shtick is to make a mockery of country music and its fans. Funny at first, but, after a while “problematic” as they say. He’s one man minstrel show, but intended to mock rednecks.

The kids’ principal also overreacted to the initial report. Can we not take a beat before reacting to any social media bullshit? Jeez.

As far as WWJr,, Ben Hoffman is looking for an out for this act, because it has played out and he’s certainly more aware of it than anyone else. He’ll try his luck at another avenue, I’m sure. It’s probably already in the works.

It would be great if social media sites started suspending accounts not just for promoting violence, but for just committing libel and jumping to harsh judgments before stories can develop. If these people want to be influencers and have their blue check mark, then they should be held to higher standards. People like Wheeler Walker gain popularity and make their money through social media, so they need to be cutoff where it hurts most when they spread hate in response to a story that ultimately ends up to be false or at least more complicated then initially thought. Force the influencers to just slow down their reactions because shit is really getting of the rails these days. Its not that far-fetched to think that some maniac could have gotten to this kid and actually harmed him before the full video came out. (for the record, I disagree with the kids’ political leanings, but they were the least guilty party based on the full video. Their adult supervision should have moved them way before it reached the point that it did).

No, I don’t, plenty examples of people leaning both directions acting like fools if that is what you are trying to get at. I also don’t think the kid is totally innocent. I went to a catholic all boys high school, and can’t be 100% certain (nor can you) but my experience from school tells me that he knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to intimate the drummer to impress his friends. Schools like that are brutal, everybody is a bully and bullied simultaneously and he wanted some cred points. It probably had less to do with his MAGA hat and more to do with mob-like mentality (heightened by the Black Hebrew Israelites), same mob-like mentality that caused liberals to think it acceptable to jump on him afterwards. Most people (leaning either direction) wouldn’t act like that when alone, he would have just gotten out of the way.

A great podcast on personal biases and human behavior is You Are Not So Smart, highly suggest people listen and learn how susceptible we all are to these behaviors. https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/

I always wondered if he had went full Andrew Dice Clay and kind of thought he was really the character he created. Then he started to spout off real political beliefs while still in character. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real.

Wheeler Walker is another in the long list of clueless, knee-jerk, politically correct idiots that went ballistic before ANY facts came out. Still waiting for “Wheeler Walker” to apologize for inciting violence against a young kid. I won’t be holding my breath, these fake country singers are as arrogant as they come.

Anybody else see the radical leftists try to say it doesn’t matter what happened, the kid had a bad expression on his face? Apparently they can project and decide exactly what a child was thinking at a certain time. Morons

I am not a Trump supporter. I am a proud liberal and Democrat. But threatening someone with violence, even if only in jest, crosses a line that should never be crossed by anyone on any side. I applaud Trigger for doing his best to side with human decency (which so many on both sides lack, including our “president”) instead of right or left when it comes to reporting stories like this.

This is what happens when you think you’re special but, you’re really too stupid to wait for the facts before you decide to jump on the “social justice warrior” band wagon. The initial video was so short, it didn’t show enough to form an informed opinion. How about, “look before you leap” or, “engage your brain before you open your mouth”? Didn’t your mama teach you anything?

I don’t care who started it fuck that little smirking prick,and fuck the black preachers bullshit religion and the little drummer boy.Bunch of dickwads at a rally against women’s rights and they don’t even have vaginas.Call Wheeler,Sturgill,Tyler or Margo SJW or whatever you want but the are the only thing worth a damn in country music.

The kid did appear to be an arrogant little prick. Sending a bunch of high school teenage boys to a pro-life rally in DC was far from a good idea. Hard to imagine WW meant what he said literally, but still, he should know there is always someone out there who would take him up on it.

Very funny, I said the same thing this weekend. My big question is why does everyone have to give such an opinion on this? Did the actions of anyone there really hurt/help a single person on this board? I do think some rushed to judge both sides but I thought this was about Wheeler Walker Jr. and his comments. It seems to have snowballed to nothing but my politics are better than yours. Let’s just talk about how much of a jerk this guy was for going after a kid. I can’t imagine he’ll have much of a career anyways with the stuff he puts out.

Yea I’d smirk too. What the fuck are you going to do at 16 when you have some clown banging drums in your face and some retards in the distant who call themselves the “black hebrews” talking shit to you.

I don’t start banging drums in front peoples faces when I see communist che guevara t-shirts being worn.